


Fight

by KarkaHatchlings



Series: Guild Wars 2 Interstitial [8]
Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game), Guild Wars Series (Video Games)
Genre: Adventure, Battle, Conversations, Gen, Monsters, Pre-Battle, Undead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 10:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15071681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarkaHatchlings/pseuds/KarkaHatchlings
Summary: Fighting Lupicus in Arah.





	Fight

Clouds of locusts descended in a buzzing mass, the stench of rot rolling off them, fanned by tattered wings.  Decay-slicked palps and mandibles clattered and spread wide in pointless hunger, seeking gaps in armor and exposed skin, even as frantic fusillades of bullets passed through their onslaught at the rising beast beyond.  The shuddering tremble of wings was overwhelmed, however, by the thump of air snatched to feed a sudden conflagration, then replaced by the sizzling crackle of the flock being consumed by the prepared firebomb.

“Grub!” shouted Pleek, hopping away from the head and writhing, corpulent body that poked out of the cracked stone beneath their feet.  The response was wordless and immediate, Chalice’s rifle dropping from her hands and her axe sweeping down to lop the exposed half of the worm off like a limb from a tree.  Her foot hooked the fallen firearm, popping it up into her hands after she jammed the other weapon back into her belt.

\---

“We’ll stand together,” Charter had warned when they clustered at the gateway for a breather, the last of the Risen they’d fought through still grasping feebly at them from the ground a short distance away, “wear it down, make it come to us.”

Through the massive ring-shaped arch, they could see the thing already, lying in a deceptive slump.  A haze of insects, as dead as everything else in the ruins, attended it, endlessly feasting on the creature’s rot but never consuming it.  The cycles of the world had broken completely here. “It’ll be slow-moving at first,” explained the man, checking his fuses, “so we’ll try to do as much damage as possible then while defending each other.”

“This isn’t my first fight,” sneered Chalice from where she was leaning on the threshold, arms folded impatiently.  She ignored Pleek's pointed glare and turned away from the others to gaze hungrily at the awaiting challenge. “Let’s get on with it.”

\---

As if stretching after a long sleep, the beast raised its arms, skin sloughing down loose-sleeved.  Wicked, bony claws raked air and it lurched forward into awful motion. Its antagonists scattered, firearms banging angrily in unison with the skirl of more esoteric attacks.  Neither bullet impact nor magical searing slowed its charge, only spattering dense, rotting flesh. Balrit vaulted over the sword he’d been using as a focus for his bolts, narrowly avoiding a crushing sweep of its paws.  A stumble brought the charr to a cower before it, but when it pounced, he was suddenly elsewhere in a burst of purple motes and a sepulchral laugh.

Denied, the beast moaned listless fury, towering over the intruders.  Corrosive energy poured out in waves, saturating the air and scouring the ground where it coalesced.  The beast was obscured by fire and smoke for a moment, a barrage of grenades detonating around it, but then was on the move, ripping free from the cloud with unnatural speed.  Sickly green light, leaking from pustules of energy pocking its body, trailed behind as it leapt across the arena after its prey. The charr’s mirth was cut short as he was forced to dart out of the way again, this time on foot and without a magical display.

\---

"No matter how big it is, how many feet it walks on, how long it's been dead," explained the man, meeting the eyes of his remaining audience, "it's a wolf at heart.  It'll hunt, not make war."

"Slow, frail, soft, that's what it'll want: to single the weakest out and drag them down." Garbrech nodded silently at Charter's words.  There was wisdom there. His armored visage slowly swept across the group and came to rest. After a moment, the others followed his gaze.

Balrit looked up from the gold and alabaster-lacquered mask he'd been polishing to meet the scrutiny of three pairs of eyes.  "What? Oh. Hm." He glanced over at the slumbering beast and fitted the scowling mask over his muzzle.

"Not sure how to feel about that one."

\---

They spread out, guns clattering, while the occasional azure orb of energy hurled from Pleek’s staff sailed in to burst against the beast’s stretched, weeping hide.  It jerked and roared, now seeming to feel the attacks and drew in its arms crookedly to clutch at injuries. Another burst of black energies ravened up from it, raining down on the scrambling assailants.

Not waiting for the stinging attacks to resume, it was across the ancient plaza before the last of the bolts had finished their deadly descent.  Balrit raised his sword, but was caught off guard by the charge, clipped by a raking blow and hurled to the floor. He rolled to a stop nearby, a roar of surprise ringing hollowly behind his mask.  The downward crush of the creature’s balled fist would have ended him, but once more the charr was somewhere else. There, he had time to brush off his robes before he was stuck hard by the last of the falling magics, dropping to curl helpless and retching in pain.

Even as the beast stalked forward with terrible intent, Pleek ran to intercept.  Standing staff in the cracked floor, she hauled her sword from her back and spread broad feet steadfastly.  With a cry of defiance, she swept the sword in a broad arc and anchored the shimmering wall she’d drawn, planting the weapon’s tip into the stone at her feet.

Chalice raced in, rifle gripped one-handed, and seized Balrit by the collar to drag him to his feet.  “You make for an ugly fur rug,” she growled, diction clear and precise in the chaos, “get off the floor.”  Fluttering dark energy raced jaggedly along the surface of the arena toward them, but bounced harmlessly against the asura’s barrier and dissipated.

The beast let out a noise more shriek than roar as Garbrech’s rifle spoke, blasting a stinking lump of meat from its hip.  Again, putrescence surged from its shambling form, cascading in deadly waves. “Watch it!” shouted Charter frantically, throwing another handful of explosives to disrupt the creature’s attack.  Warned, human and charr threw themselves out of the way, while Pleek hunched down, hand to her chest, and let the deadly energy roll over her. Charter’s breath caught until she straightened, shaking clinging wisps of blackness from her sturdy armor.  Pausing only to grab her staff, Pleek made a short-legged dash that carried her beyond the beast’s reach.

\---

Charter pulled his coat closed, pockets bulging with grenades, and watched the others’ last preparations.  Lazy sparks hopped from Pleek's tall sword as she rasped a whetstone along it noisily. "If one of us is injured, remember no one is more important than another.  If you can't get to someone safely, you take care of yourself," he said, voice low.

"I'd rather some of us finish than none of us."

"Charter," Pleek checked the sharpened edge and hung her weapon on her back, "we're all going to finish."  She met his eyes, tucking a stray braid under the rim of her helmet. Facing that angry certainty, the human could only nod.

\---

The beast limped rather than leapt now, pursuing its prey of the moment with dogged purpose.  Even stilted, each long step ate distance, making flight untenable. Bullets and magic plucked at gruesome skin, leaving it hanging in frayed sheets worried from rotted muscle.  Daring now that it showed weakness, Charter darted in from behind, dousing it with a burning mist of chemicals and throwing down a bomb before fleeing its notice. The blast staggered the creature, then it was rocked again by the magical crossfire between charr and asura.

Chalice winded her horn, sounding a charge as she hefted axe again, hewing at its legs.  The beast rounded on her, opening its mouth as if to howl. Instead, collapsed lungs dragged, inhaling life rather than air.  The woman wobbled, backing away slowly as if walking against a blowing gale. Still showing its awful potency, the thing began to rise into the air, gathering power.  The arena’s atmosphere crackled, almost unbreathable, as Charter and the others ran to escape the dreadful, building wave.

Going to one knee, Garbrech tucked massive rifle to equally solid shoulder and squinted down the sight.  The weapon thundered in the close air, raising a ring of dust around the norn and venting smoke from the scaled vanes of its barrel.  Bright streak of bullet connected rifle to beast for an instant, smacking home into its forehead. The creature sagged, slipping back to the ground and turning a grotesque pirouette before falling full length.  Its mouth hung open, silent and slack, swollen tongue lolling over decay-blacked teeth.

\---

"When we bring it to bay, it'll lash out, but we’ll take it down," the human's eyes and voice were hard.  They were past the point for anything but determination now. Their path through the once-divine city and all its crumbling, arched glories lay forward, not back.

"Everyone ready," it was more declaration than question.  Charter surveyed his comrades again, seeing Pleek nod, before turning to watch Chalice already striding out toward the beast.  "Let's go, then." Shoulders squared, he crossed the threshold himself, followed by the asura and norn, Balrit slinking along behind.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in /gw2g/.
> 
> Events referenced here correspond to in-game events: the Giganticus Lupicus encounter in Arah. At the time this was written, this represented the most widespread method of completing the encounter.


End file.
